


There's Death in Your Future

by threedices



Series: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020 [2]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Angst and Feels, Arcobaleno Curse (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Confused Reborn (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Denial of Feelings, Earthling Sawada Tsunayoshi, Friends to Lovers, Future Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Not A Fix-It, Pining, Unconventional Uses for Dying Will Flames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24845599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threedices/pseuds/threedices
Summary: Reborn is sent to train Tsuna, but finds himself back in Italy after being under the strongest Mist suggestion he's ever felt.That's where the trouble starts.When Tsuna told Reborn he couldn't become Vongola Decimo, he meant it.
Relationships: Gokudera Hayato & Doctor Shamal, Reborn & Doctor Shamal (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Reborn/Doctor Shamal (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)
Series: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799830
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41
Collections: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020





	There's Death in Your Future

**Author's Note:**

> To anyone here for Tsuna, sorry, this is mostly about Reborn.  
> For some reason, I really like writing him.
> 
> Day 3 Sun Day: Isekai AU/Shocking Reveal

It's a normal assignment, just like Dino was.  
At first.

When Reborn sets foot into Namimori, he doesn't realize anything is wrong.

That's how it's supposed to be.

Later, he knows that it's because the resident Mist had a truly mind-blowing time to practice.

It doesn't make Reborn feel better, especially not right after.

The boy he's supposed to train is a friendless loner, clumsy and soft-spoken.  
His information is right in that regard.

Tsunayoshi's reactions are what is off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't be Vongola Decimo," he tells Reborn and seems truly sorry.  
Or sympathetic.

His smile is honest, that much Reborn can see.

"You don't have much of a choice, Tsunayoshi," he says and lets Leon turn into a gun.

Tsunayoshi looks a bit curious but not worried.  
There's no fear in the boy.

"I know I have no choice, but I still can't become Decimo and you can't force me, Reborn-san." Tsunayoshi smiles again, his eyes deep and full of sadness.

They look exactly like his mother's eyes, in that moment.

Finally, Reborn grinds out, "why?

"I can't tell you. Please don't hate me for it." Tsunayoshi bows deeply.

Reborn opens his mouth, intent to ask more questions, but...

He wakes up, in a manner of speaking, half way in the checkout process, already back in Italy.

The Ninth asks him to come for tea and explain his presence.

Just as politely as the boy had, just with more threat behind the words.  
Not that Timoteo would kill him, but there would be consequences to not answering when he calls.

So Reborn goes.

It's uncomfortable, because he has to admit that he doesn't know what happened.

"I was asking the boy questions and now I'm here."  
Normally Reborn would sooner bite his own tongue off than admit weakness, but he's tired, cranky and has a headache.

Someone else can do the thinking for once.

Timoteo watches him carefully. "Your head. Is everything alright? Were you drugged, poisoned..."

"I would be able to tell that, wouldn't I?" Reborn snaps and rubs him forehead again.

In hindsight, he knows Timoteo only let him get away with it, because he seemed to be legitimately out of it and in pain.

"I will have someone check you over," Timoteo says, not unkindly and sends one his Guardians off with a nod.

Reborn, whose head still feels lits it's splitting open and filled with cotton, idly catalogues all the exits from Nono's tearoom, routine by now, and doesn't stop him.

It takes Timoteo's Sun and Mist, as well as Trident Shamal, to figure out if he was drugged or otherwise addled.

"Mind control," Reborn says, tone deadpan and face blank.

Shamal has known him for a long time now, and can be reasonably sure Reborn won't actually kill him, so he merely nods and continues, while Leon turns into a gun in Reborn's hands.

"It was an exceptionally skilled Mist. Not many can steer someone for such a long time and over such a great distance."

"Are you sure he didn't follow Reborn and control him that way?" Timoteo frowns, but his tone is still mild, even if his hand is laying on his cane.

It is cause for concern. Reborn prides himself on being strong, and that includes his mind. 

Shamal shakes his head. "It's difficult to explain if you're not a Mist, but no, no one followed Reborn."

Timoteo quickly checks with his own Mist, who nods.

Shamal takes a deep breath. "There's something else."

Reborn is tempted to say, what now, but holds his tongue.

Shamal's eyes are serious when he catches Reborn's eyes. "As far as we can see, he let you go, of his own free will."

That leaves the room silent, as everyone present gathers themselves.

"Are you sure?" Timoteo asks, once again cross-checking with his Mist.

Reborn knows Shamal and he's many things, but not a man who would lie or joke about something like this.

So he grinds his teeth, breathes and asks the only question he can think of right now. "Is he gone?"

Shamal looks at him and Reborn knows what he's going to say.

"For now, he's not there anymore."

Reborn feels ever single of his sixty plus years in his bones right now. "But you can't say if he will be back or not."

Timoteo sends him a glance, part concern, part considering a liability. "I'm afraid I can't let you continue on this job. You will be paid for you expenses, of course."

He's very polite and once again playing up the kindly grandfather act.  
Reborn nods and says nothing.  
It isn't a good idea to offend the Don of a Famiglia in their stronghold.

Shamal keeps him company while Reborn drinks.  
The headache is gone, but the whole thing leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

"You shouldn't go back."

Reborn refills his glass and ignores Shamal.  
He doesn't drink often, it's not good on the job.  
These days, Reborn is almost always on the job, because what else is he good for?

"I'll offer to go, and then you can get the info from me, alright? Just stop drinking already."

Then Shamal takes his glass and his bottle and all the rest alcohol in Reborn's current housing and it feels just like enough of a bother to get new one for it to become moot.

These moods pass, after all.

Shamal dutifully reports back, but it's depressingly little he can say.

Rhey can't even ask the Sawadas, because both mother and son are gone.  
Inquiring about them doesn't help.  
No one can say where they are, because most people can't remember that they were ever there.

Neither Shamal nor Reborn or Nono can find the Sawadas.

The whole sorry mess leads to a loss of credibility for Reborn and a lack of heirs for Vongola.

It's years later until Reborn meets Sawada Tsunayoshi again and the boys eyes are as sad as before.

"I told you. I can't be Decimo, Reborn-san."

It's a betrayal, seeing the boy there, calmly standing beside the Man in the Iron Hat, even though they don't know each other.

"At least we know where he is now," Shamal says, with a bit of gallows humour.

In the end, Checker Face got what he wanted and Reborn and the others delivered.

Yuni as the next Sky Arcobaleno.

The man beside her gets picked as Lightning.

Shamal as Mist and the boy he brought into the fight as the new Storm.

The Varia will lose their Mist, but Squalo will stay until the next run of the curse runs it's course, as the next Rain Arcobaleno.

Just like the next Sun.

The only thing the Varia cannot offer is a Cloud.

Fon looks devastated when Sawada comes to offer the Cloud Pacifier to the young Hibari.

The couple beside them exchange a look. 

"There's another choice," the woman says, voice thick. 

The Hibari boy bristles.

She barely looks at him. "Hush, Kyouya."

With a flicker of her Mist Flames, he falls asleep.

The man catches him gently, face stony.

"My, our, son," she continues, "he's a Cloud, too."

"Ansei," Fon whispers.

Ansei looks at him, every bit as proud as the boy was.  
"Kyouya is strong, but he is a child." She looks away. "At least Kyousei will have a choice and know what he is walking into."

She makes it sound like a trap or execution.  
It's not far off, Reborn muses.

Tsunayoshi tilts his head, eyes soft and sad and kind.  
Then he looks at the Man in the Iron Hat, who nods.

"Thank you for your sacrifice," Tsunayoshi says, very quietly.

Ansei says nothing, her mouth set into a bitter smile.

Tsunayoshi gathers them once again, all the old Arcobaleno.

"I know it doesn't help, but I am sorry."

"You're just sorry we have run out," Colonello mutters.  
He's holding Lal's hand and more tellingly, she lets him.

"We don't do this for fun," Tsunayoshi says, voice tight with unhappiness.

Reborn wonders dispassionately if he will start to cry.

"The Tri-ni-sette will hold for a day more. You can each say your goodbyes."

Tsunayoshi bows deeply to them.  
It makes Reborn want to punch him, but he's not sure Checker Face would let him.

He's afraid to find out how deep the control would go.  
If he would lose his last day to a useless fight he can't win.

They disperse, because in theend they are just too different and no amount of fate can combat that.

Reborn doesn't say sorry, when he pours the kid Shamal brought a drink and toasts him, but he also doesn't mention how shaken the boy looks.

"I'm not legal," the boy says even but he takes the glass.

Shamal snorts. "If you're old enough to die, you're old enough to drink, Hayato."

The boy flinches.

Reborn silently agrees, but keeps his mouth shut.  
He won't have any influence on the kid's life after tomorrow.

They drink, the boy coughs, and Reborn feels a little less alone.  
At least this one night.

The next morning, Shamal fixes their hangover, a neat trick and takes them out for coffee.

It's a nice place, the one where enough money means no questions asked.

The coffee is the best Reborn's ever had, but that might be because it's his last.

He tries to forget that.

"Where do you want to go?" Shamal asks.

The offer is tempting and Reborn knows Shamal can make it happen.

So, instead of Rome, Naples or Venetia, Reborn says, "home."

Shamal is the only one in existence who still knows where that is.

Just because Reborn no longer knows it, doesn't mean Shamal forgot.

They end up in a dirty, rundown part of town and Reborn thinks, yes, this feels right.  
Even if Shamal is putting up an elaborate illusion, Reborn doesn't care.  
It doesn't matter.  
For this, it's the thought that counts.

They wander a few hours and then Shamal loses patience and drags them to a rather tame strip club, the boy is in good hands, and silently watches Reborn to drink himself into a coma.  
On Shamal's tab.

Halfway through the evening, the curse breaks, and for a precious few breathtaking seconds, Reborn allows himself to hope.

He barely registers Shamal hastily throwing an illusion around them.

Then the Pacifiers appear around Shamal's and the boy's necks.

Reborn takes a shuddering breath and ignores how the kid has a nervous breakdown.

While Shamal talks the boy into breathing again, Reborn leaves the illusion and tries to find someone to distract him.  
One last time. 

It wouldn't mean anything,and that's what turns him off in the end.

He comes back to their table, still surrounded by Shamal's familiar Flames.

The boy is snoring, but Shamal is awake and nursing a drink.

"Didn't think I'd see you so soon," Shamal says, defeat in every line of his body.

Reborn shrugs, slightly disturbed by how easily he's adapted to his own body again.  
He represses the thought, like so many others.

Maybe it's a last gift for the dying Arcobaleno, but he doesn't have time to care.

"No one who caught my eye," he says instead.

Shamal laughs at him, but it sounds unstrady. "You've decided to be picky? Today of all days?"

"Not like it's any of your business," he snarls back.

He regrets it almost as soon as it's out, but Shamal doesn't get angry, only deflates.

"I wanted to see you off happy." It sounds soft and wistful.

It's the closest Reborn has come to wanting to apologize for anything in many years.  
He grimaces.

"You did alright."

He can't offer more, but It seems to be enough.

Shamal brightens considerably.

By the light in his eyes, Reborn can see that he has An Idea.

Reborn would normally be wary, but it's not like he has anything to loose.  
Even if Mists, and Shamal in particular, are known for having strange ideas. 

"If you have not found anyone else," Shamal says, "I have the perfect idea."

His eyes sparkle.  
Reborn fervently hopes that's just for effect, because it he usually does that to get laid, then it's no wonder Shamal has to propose anything that moves.

And, it seems, this happens to include Reborn.

Reborn is still standing, so it's easy to look down his nose at Shamal.

He wants to say something, but.  
What can he say to that?

Shamal gladly takes that as agreement.

Reborn would feel sorry for him and his future prospects, but he's Reborn and he's dying, so he's not.

In the seconds it has taken Reborn to judge Shamal and deem him hopeless, Shamal has gathered the kid and left money on the table.

He saunters over with a cross between a smirk and a smile and that is enough for Reborn to want to tell him off.

It's awful flirting.

Reborn doesn't get that far.

Shamal is close, the kid thrown carelessly over his shoulder, but he doesn't say anything.

He glances at Reborn's mouth, takes a deep breath and then.

It's warm, and messy, and inside some no name strip club.

Still, it's the first time Reborn has been kissed in years, and it will be his last.

Tomorrow he'll be dead.

That doesn't quite explain he tingling he feels or the warmth that spreads through him.

He feels better.

It's clearly and obviously a mistake, but.

What friendship is there left to ruin?

If Shamal regrets it in the morning, that's not Reborn's problem.

So he reaches and pulls Shamal closer, aggressively deepening the kiss.

Shamal makes a noise, soft and swallowed by the Flames when they travel.

"I have a another room here," Shamal tells him breathlessly and lets the boy down to sleep it off.

He waits only long enough for Reborn to nod, before throwing himself forward, half covered in Mist Flames already.

Shamal feels hungry, their kiss biting, and he's clearly eager to get his hands on any strip of skin Reborn offers.

Strange.

Skinhunger only goes so far as an explanation.

"You must have been pretty unlucky," Reborn wonders, while Shamal divests him of his shirt.

Shamal blinks at him, face contorting into a grimace. "Ah, you see--" 

Reborn kisses him again, toshut him up. "I don't want to know."

Shamal huffs a laugh. "Of course you don't."

There's an undertone in his voice, but Reborn has neither time nor patience for Shamal's hangups nor his conquest stories.

He maneuvers them a bit and trips Shamal backwards into bed.

Straddling him, Reborn smirks down at him.

Shamal, seemingly out of breath from the fall, says nothing.  
His eyes are wide.

Reborn preens momentarily that he still can make his partners speechless before leaning down, in exactly calculated movements.

"Show me a trick I don't know, on my last night on earth."  
He makes his voice dark and low, purring playfully into Shamal's ear.

Shamal shudders.

Reborn feels in where his thighs hold Shamal in place.

The heart under Reborn's hand beats rabbit fast.

When he looks up into Shamal's eyes, they're dark.  
The smile doesn't seem right though.

But the riddle of whatever is wrong with Shamal can wait for someone else to solve it.

Reborn doesn't have time and he is tired of the world.

He leaves a path of wet kisses down Shamal whole body, before making him scream.

Then, still tired but sated, Shamal shows him one proper use of Mist Flames in bed.

Shamal shapes himself anew and it's almost like bedding a woman.

Except.

Except it's Shamal on top of him and he's one of the only friends Reborn ever had.

So Reborn's decides he will stop being a coward.  
Tomorrow.

When Reborn wakes, in the earliest hours of dawn, the bed is empty and the space beside him cold.

Sleep is for the weak and those who have a future, so he wastes no time in getting up.

After a shower and other necessities, he searches for Shamal.

He pulls on pants and leaves it at that.  
He's decent.  
Shamal doesn't care about his scars.

Reborn finds him drinking in the suite.  
Crying, it seems.

When he sees Reborn, he rubs his eyes.

"Shut up."

Reborn stares at the floor.  
"Wasn't saying anything."

It's tomorrow.

Reborn isn't a coward.  
He doesn't have the time to be.

Shamal watches him moves until Reborn lets himself drop heavily beside him.

"Thank you."

Shamal laughs wetly. "Do you tell that all your good lays?"  
He sounds hurt, underneath his roughness.

Reborn hums thoughtfully. "No. I tell that no one."

Shamal's head turns sharply. He regrets it soon and curses under his breath.

Reborn laughs at him, but doesn't say anything mean.  
He throws an arm around Shamal and waits until he relaxes.

Shamal's open shirt has slipped enough that they're skin to skin.

It's warm and comfortable.

Reborn considers kissing Shamal again.

Instead he says, "not many friends would do what you have done."

"Reborn..."

"So I thought, maybe you aren't my friend."

Shamal goes still in against Reborn.  
"Forget it." His voice is only a whisper when he hides his face in the crook of Reborn's neck.

Reborn watches him, deliberating cost and gain, like on a hit.

"Maybe I don't want to," he says slowly.

"You will be dead. What is there to remember?" Shamal explodes, all useless energy and grief.

Reborn decides it is a stupid idea to kiss him, but does it anyway.

"Come shower with me," he says into the space between them.

"You already did." That's more petulant than angry or sad, a clear win.

"Being too clean has never killed anybody," Reborn says, trying for levity and charm.

Shamal laughs.

At least Reborn can do that.  
It's a gratifying way to begin this day.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic took a wild dive into a different direction when the muse suddenly decided that Shamal had secretly been pining for Reborn for a while. Now it's shippy.  
> The smut is my usual try to turn it feelings.  
> Or something.  
> I am pretty sure it's ok to read spelling-wise, but I have a headache and no intention to check today.


End file.
